The Metrowest Daily News surveyed local police departments to find out which have semi-automatic assault rifles as part of their arsenals. Turns out most do, including Southborough.
According to the article, Southborough police have five AR-15s, which can have an effective range of up to 600 yards and a bullet speed up to 3,200 feet per second.
The article quotes Sgt. Sean James, who says the rifles are used in “extreme circumstances” like the 2006 standoff on Route 495.
You can read the full article here.
I’ve pasted a portion of the Boston Globe’s 4/16/06 article that describes the
“standoff on 495” that is used by Sgt Sean James as justification for these weapons. Note the article mentions “at least 20 state troopers.” Clearly, this was a situation that was properly addressed by the state police not the Southborough police.
My point is that the state police are an agency that is trained and equipped for these types of situations. They have a fully equipped and, more importantly, a fully trained SWAT team to deal with these threats.
The Southborough police do not have the training or the mission for these dangerous situations. That is just not their job. That’s why there are specialized police units: SWAT, drug sniffing dogs, helicopters, bomb disposal experts, arson, homicide, etc.
Its a bad idea to put these very powerful weapons in the hands of policeman who are not properly trained and do not maintain that proficiency. That’s what I learned a long time ago in the Army and its true today.
I mean no disrespect to the Southborugh police officers. I respect and thank them for the job they do protecting our community. I just don’t think we should expect the officers to be experts in all phases of police work.
I would be very interested to see if the police chief search committee asks the candidates this question.
Here’s the article.
Article: POLICE STANDOFF SHUTS PARTS OF ROUTE 495 MAN IS ARRESTED IN WESTBOROUGH ON GUN CHARGES
Article from:
The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
Article date:
April 16, 2006
Author:
| Copyright informationCopyright 2006 The Boston Globe. (Hide copyright information)
More than a dozen State Police cruisers blocked off portions of Route 495 in Westborough late yesterday afternoon for about an hour during a standoff between an armed driver and at least 20 state troopers.
Police subdued and arrested the unidentified man using a beanbag gun, according to television reports.
At 4:50 p.m. on Route 495 north of Route 9, State Trooper Phil Dowd pulled over a Chevrolet with Connecticut plates for speeding and following another vehicle too closely, according to Sergeant Scott Range.
The driver got out of the car and began walking away in the breakdown lane, said Range.
At that point, said Range, the trooper noticed the man was holding a handgun.
“The trooper saw a …